If you are staying in the station area , there are a couple of reasonable places to eat . The best is the oak-beamed, rustic-looking Auvergnat , 27 av de l'Union Soviétique (from €11.43), whose repertoire includes standard Auvergne dishes like truffade . Less expensive and very friendly, with a terrace at the back, is the Hôtel des Commerçants , opposite the station (from €9.91).
In the centre of town , the best of the cheaper places is the ever-popular Crêperie 1513
, 3 rue des Chaussetiers, opposite the cathedral, which occupies a
superb Renaissance mansion built in 1513 (lunchtime menu at €8.38),
while in the same street, at no. 29, Le Bougnat offers local
regional cuisine at affordable prices (closed Sun & Mon lunch; from
€11.89). Close by at 36 rue des Gras, there's good pizza and pasta at Le Bistrot Vénitien
from €12.04 (closed Sun). On the other side of the cathedral, you can
get first-class Vietnamese cooking for around €7.62 at the Mai Lan , 41 bd Trudaine (closed Sun & Mon lunch), and crêpes for €5.34-9.15 at the Pescajoux in the old rue du Port at no. 13.
For a more specialized gastronomic experience, there's nothing to beat the refined and inventive cooking of Gérard Anglard
at 17 rue Lamartine, off place de Jaude, especially the lunchtime menu
at €16.77 (tel 04.73.93.52.25; closed Sun & first two weeks Aug).
Also good value, especially at lunchtime, is the Clos St-Pierre
, next to the St-Pierre market below the cathedral (closed Sun and Mon;
€9.15 at lunchtime, otherwise €31.25 plus). And, if you don't mind the
drive - barely 5km southeast off the old N9 Issoire road - the Petit Bonneval at Pérignat-lès-Sarliève makes a delicious stop for dinner on a summer evening (tel 04.73.79.11.11; closed Sun evening; menus from €19.06).
For a daytime drink , Le Suffren , on the corner of place de Jaude, is one of the most popular places to hang out. More unusual is Les Goûters de Justine , a salon de thé
, tucked away in old rue Pascal and furnished with antique chairs, old
sofas and oriental carpets. At night one of the most fashionable places
is studenty Le Dérailleur , 9 av Georges-Clemenceau, while
young rockers head for the suburban village of Orcines, beneath the Puy
de Dôme, to long-standing Phidias , aka Boudu's , on route de la Baraque (tel 04.73.62.18.34; until 5am; closed Sun & Mon).
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